The Nano Killer

Category : entertainment + hardware + music + review

I decided it was about that time for a new audio toy since my iRiver IMP350 I had purchased years ago was getting old, not as portable as I’d like it to be, and generally bugging out… I decided to find a nice replacement. Originally, the plan was just to go out and snag a little iPod Nano and be done with it, but I knew there had to be something better. And there is.

First and foremost I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of owning a musical roach motel, along with being forced to use extra and unnecessary software to “manage” and “move” around my music collection. In fact, my music is organized in such a way that I didn’t want anything screwing it up and I didn’t want any extra software for a device beyond a necessary driver. Yeah… I’m a picky bastard like that. But since I didn’t know what all my options were beyond an iPod or Zune, I started searching for “iPod alternatives” for answers and “iPod killer” for giggles.

To make a long story short, I landed upon several good reviews and suggestions for the Sandisk Sansa e200 series “media player”. After comparing the specs vs other players in it’s size and weight class, the Sansa stood out above the rest and then some when you throw in the micro SD card expansion. The only real question I have to ask is: Why the hell isn’t this player getting more press?

But if you don’t believe me, I drew up a quick list of pros and cons:

The Pros:

  • $120 vs $190 for a 4gb player with a solid design. Yes, the Sansa store says $140 or more but you can find these pretty cheap if you know where to look. I found them in my area for $120.
  • Battery life is border-line insane. Out of the box it had almost a half-charge and played for a good 9 hours before I had to charge it in again. If you own a screwdriver, you can purchase and replace the battery yourself without the need for any technician intervention or store visits.
  • No real need for any additional software or real setup for moving around your tunes. Simply plug in the Sansa and allow it to be discovered. You’ll find 2 new drives pop up once it’s recognized; one drive for the onboard storage and file system, the other for the optional micro SD card slot on the device.
  • Expandable with micro SD cards. I’ve also found that if you don’t have a micro SD card reader, just plug the card into the Sansa, then plug the Sansa into your computer. Viola! the Sansa now doubles as an instant micro SD card reader.
  • Since it acts as a simple external USB mass storage device so you can transfer your files to and from the player just as easily as you can use your file system. There’s no need to partition it’s storage or jump through extra hoops in setup. *See fuzzy areas.
  • Built-in FM Radio tuner, Microphone for recording voice notes or other sounds, and it records radio broadcasts too. The Sansa also supports Video and Photos, but these last two items seem more of a bonus and impractical afterthought given the screen size, even if it is only slightly larger than a Nano.
  • Radio reception is amazingly good compared to other devices I’ve come across.
  • You’ll be less of a target by gadget thieves who like to rob people sporting white ear buds. Don’t worry as the ones with the Sansa are slightly smaller and fashionably black so they won’t turn yellow over time.

The Cons:

  • For $10-20 more, I wouldn’t mind if the Sansa also came with an AC adapter for wall charging. But given it’s been a year since it’s release, there’s already plenty of adapters out there to choose from. Don’t worry though, you can still charge it via the USB cable that comes with it. The only downside of charging it from a wall vs charging it via USB is that when charging via USB you can’t listen to music while it’s charging and if you can you’ll enjoy all the comm noise your computer makes at the same time…
  • The USB cable interface that comes with the Sansa seems like a poor choice since it uses the same type of dock connector as an iPod. Personally, I’d be happier if it used a mini USB interface additionally with some kind of plug or cover to keep pocket lint out.
  • Unicode based *.plp playlist files which not many people use or are even familiar with.
  • No AM radio tuner, but you’re probably only missing that one station if you even listen to AM radio in the first place…
  • A predictable shuffle mode which seems to exclude half of the songs when you perform a “Play all” and shuffle them. No matter how many times you shuffle it, that one song always plays first…

Fuzzy Areas:

  • While it acts as a USB mass storage device under Windows, it’s still unclear whether Macs or most *Nix installs will recognize it. Sandisk doesn’t officially state that the Sansa is compatible with anything other than Windows boxes, but I’ll say there’s probably a good chance that the player will get recognized by your setup if you have the knowledge and know-how to mount USB devices on your system.
  • To utilize photos and video on it’s small screen, additional software needs to be installed to format the media and create thumbnails the player can read. However as implied before, these two weren’t really the selling points but instead an added bonus.
  • Tactile vs Touch sensitive buttons. Not entirely a strike for or against it, but the locations of some buttons vs how they work seems slightly awkward at first or if you have large hands. The scroll wheel could be recessed or shrunk a bit so the surrounding buttons are more accissible. However the scroll wheel on this thing would be great if the device supported a game or two and came preloaded with Arkanoid. Solitare could work too…
  • I’m not sure if the dock functions similarly to that of an iPod when cradled or connected to a compatible device. If it doesn’t I hope they lose the cable type in exchange for a simple mini or standard USB connector.

Final Verdict:

I’m not sure how many generations the e200 series has been through, but I’ll wager a guess and say: not many. It’s design and construction is pretty solid and I hope future versions will only see improvements for the better without changing how it works overall as a mass storage device plus media player. While the LCD and lighting on it are superb to a point where it can illuminate a small dark room or hallway, the video and photo options are really quite pointless in my opinion, but I wouldn’t consider or hinge my purchase on those options in the first place.

In the end, if you’re still considering a iPod in the “Nano class” of mp3 devices after this comparison and settle for an actual nano… Then all I can say for you is: Enjoy your lock-in, sucker.

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